Till Death Do Us Part

Chapter One : A Slight Diversion

Chapter One : A Slight Diversion

The bullet whizzed by Mal Reynold's cheek and missed it by mere millimeters. He swerved to avoid the hit and the momentum of his follow through forced him to face in the opposite direction of the gunfight. After Mal quickly turned back towards the action and raised his trusty pistol to fire at the source of the shot that almost sent him into permanent sleep, he shouted within range of two of his crew mates, "How in the gorram hell do we get in these messes?"

Crouching behind a storage crate for cover and also doing her part in joining the firearm fight was Mal's wartime partner and loyal soldier, Zoe Alleyne. In between shots, she answered Mal's rhetoric question with the same serious tone but was meant to be sarcastic. "Pure talent, sir"

Mal's other fighting crew mate was Jayne Cobb, the criminal who almost shanghai-ed them into taking Serenity if it weren't for pure charm and wit Mal managed to use for luring Jayne into a spot on his own crew. After firing a shot from his shotgun, Jayne turned to Mal and shouted his thoughts. "I told you, Mal, these warriors on Three Hills can't be trusted!"

Mal had to suppress a grimace at the fact that he was getting advice on who not to trust from someone who he would never trust farther than he could throw cow dung. The funny thing was that the guns they were being shot at with were the very same guns that he and his crew had smuggled into Three Hills from Beaumonde. They'd just received payment for them just hours before. Mal thought it would be simple to hand the freedom fighters their guns they fussed over to get, take their coin, and skedaddle into the black.

Oh, but do things go smoothly with his crew? Almost never. And they had a serious life-changing event to be held at week's end. They had a lot to think about. Now they were in yet another firefight that seemed doomed from the beginning. The Three Hills' so-called freedom fighters saw fit to exclude the fact from Mal that they aimed to use the firearms they smuggled in as a trade to the very planet's government they were fighting against for food and security. Double-crossed by the double-crossers. And Mal and his crew fell snugly into the ruse.

Soon after Mal and crew began the trek back to Serenity supplied with coin, they were ambushed by the government's version of their military. They were pros. Mal would give them that. They had pinned his crew down in a corner full of storage crates. At least it was good for cover.

Zoe had managed to quip between shots, "I thought we were over these kind of situations four years ago"

"What kind?" Mal had to ask.

"The hopeless kind."

Mal was getting tired of trading shots with these men and he reached into his pocket with his free hand and fetched the comm. He flipped then switch in hopes to reach his pilot, Wash. Nothing but static. "Zoe, can you reach Wash?"

After another shot, Zoe reached for her comm. Static. "No go, sir. Think they might have a magnetic field in use."

"What, they're jamming the signal?"

"Looks like."

"Tzao gao. And here I thought it couldn't be stopped," Jayne added.

"Well...it's still there...just sussed up a bit," Mal retracted. "These ain't amateurs, for sure. How far away did we park?"

"Nothing short of a hundred clicks, sir. Just like you asked."

"Oh, I know you're not startin' no blame placin'."

"Wouldn't think of it, sir."

After a few more rounds, Mal started to notice their eminent lack of munitions. This had to end. "I'm open to all sorts of ideas out of this."